Top Tips for Storing & Playing with Lego.....

[Mo2]

Apologies for such a boring and mundane thread, but this is something really bugging me at the mo....

DS1 is nearly 4 and has suddenly really got into 'proper' lego - the really tiny stuff. He's got a few kits I got him - including pirate islands, fortresses etc and one Harry Potter set.

Here's the dilemma - what's the best to store and use all this?
Do you:

• keep sets separate (this is what I've done so far, by keeping all little pieces in a zip freezer bag within the respective boxes with instructions etc); OR
• say 'sod it' and scoop the whole lot into one big crate at the end of the day and let him try to find all the individual pieces

Also does anyone use those tables which lego board surfaces to build on? What tends to happen at the moment is that DS2 (14 months) comes along and pulls it all on the floor off DS1's little normal playtable.

Top tips please....

I am anal about storage and keeping stuff in little boxes/bags but have recently bought a big box and have just bunged everything in. Ds1 5 mixes all the bits up anyway when he plays with it - and it seems like it makes for more varied playing IYKWIM. I did buy a couple of what look plastic beakers with twist off lids so we can keep all the wheels in one , and all the tiny, tiny bits in another, and these reside inside the big box - just so he can find certain bits quickly.

We have tended to bring it out when ds2 was having a nap as some of the pieces are tiny and I was worried about swallowing but now at 2.4 ds2 is just about able to put stuff together too.

As a kid, I used to have a huge great tub where all the bits went (an old cement plastic bucket with lid I think! Cleaned out of course...) and then an old square biscuit tin to keep all the instructions. The boxes were chucked.

Still had loads of fun with it and wasn't particularly difficult "treasure hunting" for that last unusual piece down the bottom of the bucket

Have to say that it is only in the past year or so that ds (5.5) has graduated onto big boy Lego. Whilst dd was under 18 months we only really had Duplo sized around, anything else only came out whilst she was asleep or he played with it at the dining table. He still likes to build with the Duplo now. However we are gradually amassing the older aged models and have a collection of Creator, Dinosaurs, Jack Stone vehicles, Racers and Bionicles. Most of the models are still new enough to be separated whilst the creator is in a shoe box for the timebeing.

We keep all this in an Ikea drawer arrangement with coloured tubs (Trofast?)and also use it to house Playmobil, Action Man and other non-2-year-old friendly toys. ds is pretty good about playing with them in an organised fashion either in his room or out of dd's way. That all sounds rather more organised than it is in practice ! Love the idea of a specific table with drawers but no space at the moment.

The plastic kids bins that Blooming Marvellous and others stock are really good for keeping lots of little bits in - we dont have much lego but huge amounts of little playmobil and farm bits. Its a wooden shelving unit with twelve bright coloured plastic boxes on.

My ds(6) is mad about lego so here's my top tips. Let them mix up the sets - allows more creativity, but have a good storage system. We have the plastic box/drawers on wheels that you can buy from all DIY shops etc and we keep the lego roughly colour coded, for the main colours i.e blue yellow red with a separate box for 'interesting bits/odds and sods' and another for the mini people. Something like this from Argos - scroll to the bottom of the page Everytime he gets a new set we save the insructions and keep these all in a box - so when he says - I dont know what to do we can look for inspiration. This way it is still possible to build the set again.

When a set is new - for a few weeks we keep it separate in the orignal box - then when novelty has worn off it goes into the general storage trolley.
We also have the lego table (from GLTC) its ok - but at 6 my ds is not far off being too big for it - he is usually happier playing on the floor. I dont think it would stop a toddler from being able to grab things. Can your 4 year old keep the lego in his room to play with or do they share? It has been a good general kids table - but not especially useful for lego and certainly not for storage - the drawers regularly get emptied out cos you cant see whats in them.

I keep it seperate as he is not super good at it yet.

Keep the lego designer int he box and general in a lego table bought on e bay for 17 quid.

heres on for sale at the moment

One box, SueW?? We have at least four crates of the blooming stuff, maybe five. DD doesn't seem interested in it at all, but I can't bring myself to give it away.....

My dad made me a lego box, with loads of different sections for roof tiles, little people etc etc. Even had little wheels so I could move it from room to room. It's still in the loft for when dd gets bigger.

Aaaaahhh, feel all warm now remembering my youth

When they get a new kit and make it, we put it "on display" for a week or two, then it gets all mixed up with everything else.

I was keeping all the lego sorted out according to type - not colour - roof tiles separate, square bricks, oblong bricks, people, garden stuff, fences, wheels, etc. - we have a Lego box with 9 large compartments, and then smaller plastic 'hobby boxes' from Woolworths with compartments (you probably all think this is REALLY anal) ... BUT ds2 kept tipping them all out, and it drove me mad, and in a rage I put it all in one huge box at the end of the summer holidays.

HOWEVER, since then they have hardly played with the Lego at all, since they find it very frustrating when they "can't find the green light sabre, and no the red one won't do!" ... so I am considering sorting it all out again.

maryz - try the Lego site for replacements. When we got HP Lego Harry's hand broke when inserting his wand - genuinely faulty, I think. We emailed them and they sent us a new Harry - took a while to arrive - but made ds1 very happy.

That's very true, SueW, some of ours must be almost vintage lego by now! Ds2 is doing a Psychology degree and he has been using the Duplo in experiments, so I suppose you really don't know when it will come in handy.

Message withdrawn

We have a circular mat that drawstrings up into a storage bag that we keep all the little Lego in. Ds1 can spread all the bits out all over the playmat then gather them back into it afterwards. Think we got it from Great Little Trading Company. Though we do keep Star Wars Lego separate, in a plastic box. All instructions we keep in a box file.

SB34 - that would be fab - happy to buy it off you.... Did you buy it or make it yourself?